The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) · 7 of 141 · tr. R.H. Charles
Page 3 (part 5)
More difficult is the question whether any portions of it are pre-Maccabæan; Charles gives various reasons for his belief that considerable parts are pre-Maccabæan; we are inclined to agree with him, though it may be questioned whether the last word on the subject has been spoken.
AUTHORSHIP As the various parts of the book 1 clearly belong to different dates, diversity of authorship is what one is naturally led to expect; and of this there can, indeed, be no shadow of doubt.
The author of the earliest portions was a Jew who lived, as Burkitt has shown, in northern Palestine, in the land of Dan, south-west of the Hermon range, near the headwaters of the Jordan.
This is important, as it tends to show that the book, or books, is really Palestinian, and one which, therefore, circulated among Jews in Palestine.
"If, moreover, the author came from the north, that helps to explain the influence the book had upon the Religion that was cradled in Galilee." 2 Of the authors of the other three books of which "Enoch" is made up (viz.
"The Dream-Visions," "The Book of the Heavenly Luminaries," and "The Similitudes") we know nothing save what can be gathered from their writings as to their religious standpoint.
Charles holds that though there is not unity of authorship there is, none the less, uniformity; for, p.
xvi according to him, all the books were written by Chassidim , 1 or by their successors, the Pharisees.
This contention has been strongly assailed and much weakened by Leszynsky in a recent work on the Sadducees.
2 While frankly recognizing the composite character of the book, Leszynsky holds that the original portions of it 3 emanate from Sadducæan circles; and that the special object of the book originally was the bringing about of a reform of the calendar.
He points to the ascription of the book to Enoch as supporting his contention, for Enoch lived 365 years, 4 i.e.
is years correspond to the number of days in the solar year; the basis of reckoning time was one of the fundamental points of difference between the Pharisees and Sadducees, for whereas the former reckoned time by the lunar year (360 days), the latter did so by the solar year.
Here a significant remark of Burkitt's is worth recalling; in writing about the false titles given to all the Apocalyptic books, he says: "There is another aspect of pseudonymous authorship to which I venture to think sufficient attention has not been given.
It is this, that the names were not chosen out of mere caprice; they indicated to a certain extent what subjects would be treated and the point of view of the writer." 5 Further, the fact that "Enoch walked with God; and he was not; for God took him," 6 i.e.
that he ascended into the heavens, is also significant; for he would thereby be just the one to know all about the heavenly luminaries; he was just the most appropriate author of a book which was to deal with astronomical questions.
"The Sadducæan character of the original work," says Leszynsky, "is seen most clearly in the discussion regarding the calendar; chapters p.
xvii lxxii.-lxxxii.
are rightly called the Book of Astronomy: 1 'the book of the courses of the luminaries of the heaven, the relations of each, according to their classes, their dominion and their seasons, according to their names and places of origin, and according to their months .
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with regard to all the years of the world and unto eternity, till the new creation is accomplished which endureth till all eternity' (lxxii.
1).
Themes
◆Numerical Mysticismtheology
Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.
The passage explicitly discusses the significance of Enoch living 365 years corresponding to the 365 days of the solar year as a basis for calendar reform and authorship.
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